Jersey City Needs Traffic Enforcement
Our roadways are pervaded by an atmosphere of lawlessness. Anyone who crosses an intersection in Jersey City is exposed to drivers speeding through crosswalks and stop signs, ignoring red lights, driving on the wrong side of the street, parking on corners or in bus stops, turning left on red, and more. With blocked sight-lines and speeding vehicles, crossing the street can be the equivalent of playing a real-life game of Frogger with real lives at stake. And nowadays, many vehicles today have ghost plates – fake or hidden plates and others casually throw a half visible license plate on their dashboard, enabling hit-and-runs and evading responsibility. A recent report found that NYC Vision Zero gains since 2014 have been completely reversed since the pandemic due to a decline in traffic enforcement, and we fear the same dynamic could happen here if we don’t address the problem [1] [2].
.jpg "Woman attempting to cross the street at the crosswalk but a pickup truck is parked there blocking visibility")
Jersey City is a leading Vision Zero city, and we’ve seen results. Thanks to redesign of our streets – daylighting, curb extensions, narrowing lanes, protected bike lanes, and other infrastructure improvements many intersections and streets are now clearly safer. But without enforcement, there are gaps that cannot be addressed.
Please join us in asking Mayor Fulop to direct and empower JCPD and the traffic division to treat traffic safety as a core part of public safety and ramp up traffic enforcement. We also ask for the City Council to double staff and funding for traffic safety infrastructure improvements to achieve universal daylighting and safe streets redesigns for all of Jersey City.
